Giphy
A cold front came through overnight. Our temperature right now (9:45 a.m.) is 53! The sun is shining and it’s beautiful outside. This is the first morning in a LONG time we haven’t opened our doors first thing when we come downstairs. It was actually TOO COOL to do that! We’ll probably do it later as the day warms up, but it looks like summer is finally waving goodbye.
I got my six 4 foot x 4 foot raised bed, square foot planters weeded yesterday. I managed to harvest the remainder of the onions and finish the weeding without getting stung or bitten by the fire ants that had taken up residence in a couple of the planters. We live on about 8 acres. I have no clue why they would climb up the legs of the planters and live in my veggies, but it really has been a problem for me.
Today I’ll remove the broken wooden strips that support the irrigation hoses and sprinkler heads for the garden, plus I’ll string wire on the one box we forgot to prep this season. I’m not sure if I’ll start the process of mixing Mel’s mix for the boxes today or not.
Mel’s Mix is the wonderful soil alternative that allows me to have a garden at about my chest height so I don’t have to worry about the quality (or lack of) of my soil, and can have a garden where I can plant, weed, and harvest without having to bend over double or get up and down on my knees. Mel Bartholomew of Square Foot Gardening is the man who came up with the process. Mel’s Mix is a combination of vermiculite, peat moss, and as many different kinds of compost as you can find. It makes a really rich medium in which to grow plants.
I keep the ingredients in big trash cans along the back of our shop, just next to the garden. We got a used cement mixer that I use in preparation. I put the components in the proper ratio into the mixer, mix it for awhile, then dump it into a big plastic container and dump it into one of my planters over and over until the planters are all filled up. Though a bit laborious, it works very well.
When this is all done, I have a tarp to put on each planter that I’ll secure with bungie cords. This should keep the growth of weeds down until I’m ready to plant in the spring.
I’m doing a bit on this each day Mother Nature is feeling cooperative. I’ll take pics of the garden prep soon.
creativeartworksblog 